Picking The Best SHTF Radio Set Up For Your Situation
- Thread starter MET45
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MET45
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I do CB’s, scanner, and have a set of combo POC (4G PTT) UHF handhelds, which can be programmed for GMRS repeaters. Also have a back up vhf/uhf handheld.
MET45
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NYECOGunsmith
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Santa's Little Helper
A Yaesu FT4X or Yaesu FT65, either at around $100, can be user modified by entering a code into the radio, so that it will transmit on the ham bands, the GMRS and FRS bands, all in one small handy radio, easy to use, easy to program manually or with a PC and cable, long battery life.
Video on how to unlock the FT4X
Video on how to unlock the FT65
Video on how to unlock the FT4X
Video on how to unlock the FT65
NYECOGunsmith
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Santa's Little Helper
They are both 5 watt hand helds.
With a super rubber duck ( antenna is about 15 inches long, versus the standard rubber duck for these frequencies, which is about 6 inches long) , and on the VHF side of the radio, over flat ground, 20 miles or more, over open water, particularly salt water, can reach 100 to 200 miles.
On UHF (which includes the ham bands, the FRS bands and the GMRS bands) 10 to 20 miles over flat ground, up to 100 miles over water, salt or otherwise.
UHF works better in cities and in canyons, tends to bounce around and find a signal path that VHF doesn't.
With repeaters (and there are lots of VHF, UHF and GMRS repeaters in southern NV, FRS does not have repeaters) the range is pretty much unlimited, as the repeaters can be linked.
There are VHF and UHF repeaters on High Potosi that are linked all over the continental United States, and some also have either Echo Link or IRLP installed on them, which lets them link to repeaters all over the world, via the internet.
Of course, in a power outage, the internet is going to be dead, but the repeaters will still work, and the ones linked by microwave or RF will still be up, as nearly all the repeaters around here have backup generators, solar, wind and batteries.
Hook the 5 watt hand held to a base station antenna via an adapter cable, and the range goes way up. It's all about the antenna and the ground plane.
With a hand held, YOU are the ground plane via capacitive coupling.
Take a piece of light guage (say, 22 to 30 gauge wire, about 19.625 inches long (plus or minus a quarter inch), strip one end of it back for an inch, wrap the bare wire end around the threads of the hand held's antenna connector, then screw on the rubber duck. Let the wire hang down the side of the radio, it is now the ground plane in addition to your body, and it plus the rubber duck act like a dipole antenna.
Keep the rubber duck vertical, and turn the side of the radio with the wire hanging down towards where you want to reach, that dipole, with your body as a reflector, acts more like a directional (yagi) antenna, range is greatly increased.
GMRS frequencies, without a repeater, but with a good rubber duck, range is 5-10 miles, add on a base station antenna with a high gain, 50 miles or more.
I can hit the High Potosi 462.625 GMRS repeater from my living room in Pahrump with a super rubber duck antenna on my FT4X and the radio set to 1/2 watt. That's a distance of over 30 miles right there, straight line of sight.
All these frequencies are basically line of sight, they don't bounce off the ionosphere the way the HF frequencies do.
FRS is limited to 2 watts, and a range of 1-5 miles, but doesn't require any license.
GMRS radios require a license to use, it's $35 for 10 years, no test, and the entire immediate family can use one license.
Ham radio requires a license , $35 for 10 years, license is only for one person, although anyone may transmit on the licensee's radio as long as the licensee is right there with them, license requires a test to be passed in addition to the $35 fee for the license.
With a super rubber duck ( antenna is about 15 inches long, versus the standard rubber duck for these frequencies, which is about 6 inches long) , and on the VHF side of the radio, over flat ground, 20 miles or more, over open water, particularly salt water, can reach 100 to 200 miles.
On UHF (which includes the ham bands, the FRS bands and the GMRS bands) 10 to 20 miles over flat ground, up to 100 miles over water, salt or otherwise.
UHF works better in cities and in canyons, tends to bounce around and find a signal path that VHF doesn't.
With repeaters (and there are lots of VHF, UHF and GMRS repeaters in southern NV, FRS does not have repeaters) the range is pretty much unlimited, as the repeaters can be linked.
There are VHF and UHF repeaters on High Potosi that are linked all over the continental United States, and some also have either Echo Link or IRLP installed on them, which lets them link to repeaters all over the world, via the internet.
Of course, in a power outage, the internet is going to be dead, but the repeaters will still work, and the ones linked by microwave or RF will still be up, as nearly all the repeaters around here have backup generators, solar, wind and batteries.
Hook the 5 watt hand held to a base station antenna via an adapter cable, and the range goes way up. It's all about the antenna and the ground plane.
With a hand held, YOU are the ground plane via capacitive coupling.
Take a piece of light guage (say, 22 to 30 gauge wire, about 19.625 inches long (plus or minus a quarter inch), strip one end of it back for an inch, wrap the bare wire end around the threads of the hand held's antenna connector, then screw on the rubber duck. Let the wire hang down the side of the radio, it is now the ground plane in addition to your body, and it plus the rubber duck act like a dipole antenna.
Keep the rubber duck vertical, and turn the side of the radio with the wire hanging down towards where you want to reach, that dipole, with your body as a reflector, acts more like a directional (yagi) antenna, range is greatly increased.
GMRS frequencies, without a repeater, but with a good rubber duck, range is 5-10 miles, add on a base station antenna with a high gain, 50 miles or more.
I can hit the High Potosi 462.625 GMRS repeater from my living room in Pahrump with a super rubber duck antenna on my FT4X and the radio set to 1/2 watt. That's a distance of over 30 miles right there, straight line of sight.
All these frequencies are basically line of sight, they don't bounce off the ionosphere the way the HF frequencies do.
FRS is limited to 2 watts, and a range of 1-5 miles, but doesn't require any license.
GMRS radios require a license to use, it's $35 for 10 years, no test, and the entire immediate family can use one license.
Ham radio requires a license , $35 for 10 years, license is only for one person, although anyone may transmit on the licensee's radio as long as the licensee is right there with them, license requires a test to be passed in addition to the $35 fee for the license.
GatorJim
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Good video about real world experiences.
After 20 years of working with a Yaesu FT-60....... I'm learning a new HT a...yes, I swore I would never use them..... a Baofeng DM32 DMR.
And after years and years of 857D Winlink P3 SCS modem long hauls......I'm learning JS8 using a TR USDX and digirig.
And fir the bonus round....I'm trying to get The Tech Prepper (from Youtube) to hold a class on modern HF field radio fabrication and deployment out here at the Ed center at CCSC, but he said he might try to do something in the first part of next year.
After 20 years of working with a Yaesu FT-60....... I'm learning a new HT a...yes, I swore I would never use them..... a Baofeng DM32 DMR.
And after years and years of 857D Winlink P3 SCS modem long hauls......I'm learning JS8 using a TR USDX and digirig.
And fir the bonus round....I'm trying to get The Tech Prepper (from Youtube) to hold a class on modern HF field radio fabrication and deployment out here at the Ed center at CCSC, but he said he might try to do something in the first part of next year.